Israel air strike targets Gaza militants

Gaza City: An Israeli air strike targeted Palestinian militants in the Gaza
Strip early on Saturday, sources on both sides said.

A security source from the Islamist Hamas movement which
controls the territory said that the warplanes struck in the
south of the enclave, close to the border with Israel.

The raid targeted militants from the Popular Resistance
Committees who were laying explosives near the border,
witnesses from the hardline faction said.

The witnesses said there were no casualties among the
militants but the Israeli military said that it had confirmed
a hit.

"A short while ago, Israeli Army aircraft targeted a
terrorist squad in the southern Gaza Strip," a statement said.
"The squad fired rockets seconds before being targeted. A
hit was confirmed."

After a three-week lull at the turn of the year, there has
been an increase in the number of incidents on the Israel-Gaza
border in recent days.

Last night, Gaza militants fired a rocket into
southern Israel without causing any casualties or damage.
On Thursday, a military spokesman said that Israeli forces
arrested three Palestinians overnight as they tried to enter
Israel from the southern Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian security source said just two men had been
held, and said they were captured inside Gaza by Israeli
special forces.

Also on Thursday, the Army said two rockets fired from
Gaza hit the southern Eshkol and Shaar Hanegev regions,
without causing casualties or damage.

Since the beginning of the year, the army says it has
counted seven rockets fired into southern Israel.

On Wednesday, an Israeli air raid on northern Gaza killed
two Palestinians and wounded a third.

The military said the raid targeted a group of men who
were laying explosives along the border, but Palestinian
officials said they were setting traps for birds.